the refs, in my humble opinion, botching a call that changed the entire outcome of the game. it's tuesday, september 25th, "starting point" beginning right now. morning, welcome everybody. our starting point this morning, president obama's high stakes speech on the world stage. in just a few hours he's going to be addressing the united nations general assembly in a just-released excerpt shows the president touching on the familiar theme which is preventing a nuclear iran, saying we respect the right of nations to access peaceful nuclear power, but one of the purposes of the united nations is to see that we harness that power for peace. make no mistake, a nuclear-armed iran is not a challenge that can be contained. richard roth is at the u.n. this morning for us. richard, good morning. much anticipation about the president's speech today. >> good morning, soledad. yes, president obama, as you mentioned, is going to be speaking about iran and other hot spots in the middle east. certainly we've seen huge

stories developing in the last two weeks, especially after the killing of ambassador stevens in libya. for the united states president, once again, there will be those tough remarks about iran, saying time is not limited. the u.s. president is going to be saying that there is just a time limit to diplomacy. the u.s. and many other nations extremely worried about iran's nuclear capability. iran's leader, mahmoud ahmadinejad, yesterday told the united nations in a speech about the rule of law that the security council members should be changed. they are allowing, in effect, israel to possess a nuclear weapon, while all the attention is focused on tehran. earlier in a meeting with reporters, he, in effect, again, questioned israel's legitimacy. this issue, of course, has been seen on the u.n. stage here for years. sometimes it's a side show. there are many other points president obama is going to mention, including saying how these attacks based on a video were totally uncalled for in the

middle east region and that free speech must be a cornerstone of american democracy. soledad? >> all right, lots to look forward to today. thanks for the update richard roth at the u.n. we're going to be talking with mitt romney supporter senator john barrasso about what he says are the three things president obama needs to do in his speech today. first john berman has got a look at some of the other stories making news. >> good morning. iran's president is trying to clarify what he meant when he said israel should be wiped off the map. an exclusive interview with cnn's piers morgan mahmoud ahmadinejad insists the literal interpretation of his comment is not what he meant. >> when we say to be wiped, we say for occupation to be wiped off from this world. for war-seeking to be wiped off and eradicated. the killing of women and children to be eradicated. and we propose the way, we propose the path. the path is to recognize the

right of the palestinians to self-governance. >> ahmadinejad is scheduled to speak before the u.n. general assembly tomorrow on the jewish high holy day of yom kippur. this has many new yorkers outraged. there's even a house resolution circulating in congress condemning the timing of the address. after president obama's u.n. speech you'll also see him and the first lady stopping by "the view." they taped the appearance yesterday, and here's a preview. >> would it be disastrous for the country if mitt romney were elected? >> well, you know, i think america is so strong, and we've got so much going for us, that we can survive a lot. and, but the american people don't want to just survive. we want everybody to thrive. we want folks to have a shot. and so, the question just becomes whose policies are more likely to lead us to where we want to go? >> now, when the first lady was asked whether she'd ever consider running for president,

she said she didn't have the patience for the job. the president agreed, which could get dicey at home. mitt romney will have another chance to hammer the president on foreign policy matters this morning. the gop challenger will speak at the clinton global initiative meeting in two hours. here's a sample of what we can expect. >> he says the developments in the middle east are bumps in the road. these are not bumps in the road. these are human lives. these are developments we do not want to see. this is time for the president who will shape events in the middle east, not just be merciful or be at mercy of the events in the middle east. >> white house spokesman jay carney calls romney's comment desperate and offensive. president obama will speak at the clinton global initiative himself a few hours after mitt romney, the president speaking at noon eastern. an arrest in a mysterious missing person case in florida. christian aguilar, a freshman at the university of florida, disappeared thursday after what police said was a fight over a woman. pedro guavo is called a person

of interest but he's already been arrested and charged with depriving a victim of medical care. he told police he left aguilar beaten and unconscious along a roadside in a fight over this woman. gainesville police say aguilar may be dead. and this was bound to happen. the replacement refs, sure looks like they cost the green bay packers a victory last night against the seattle seahawks. here's the blown call everyone's talking about. final seconds, packers up by five, quarterback throws a hail mary to the end zone. it looks like it's intercepted by the packers. right? right? >> yes. >> no! the replacement officials rule that the one seahawks player there, tate, somehow caught the ball. they actually reviewed this, took like ten minutes, and they said they were right. >> and they got it wrong. >> so the seahawks won 14-12. you have to check out some of the angry tweets from packers players after the game. t.j. says fine me and use the money to pay regular refs. end guard said that was bs.

this is getting ridiculous. the nfl needs to get the refs back before we strike and they make no money. it was awful weekend for the referees. the last play of the monday night football game puts a cap. >> one has to imagine, though, this is exactly what you want in some kind of a debate over, you know, when you're trying to figure out if you can bring people to the table, right? you need to have somebody mess up so they can see it's very urgent and hopefully they'll be able to resolve their dispute. >> the referees are being locked out right now by the nfl ownership, roger goodell. >> if you're nfl ownership you're going to be like, you know what? maybe we all you need to come back to the table. >> it's a good time to talk. >> before our fans revolt. because i don't even follow that game and i can tell. all right. moving on. our top story this morning, just a few hours until president obama is going to address the u.n. general assembly. it's the fourth time doing so. but this time he does it in the midst of a presidential campaign, in the wake of anti-american demonstrations around the world. yesterday, the white house gave a preview of what to expect from the president. listen. >> he will also send a clear

message that the united states will never retreat from the world. the united states will bring justice to those who harm americans, and the united states will stand strongly for our democratic values abroad. >> senator john barrasso is a republican from wyoming. he supports mitt romney's presidential campaign. he's also a member of the senate foreign relations committee. also joining us this morning, elise labott, cnn's former affairs reporter. nice to have you both with us. we'll start with you, senator. you wrote an op-ed in politico and you listed what you thought were three critical things that the president had to hit on when he gives his speech before the general assembly today. can you lay out for me what you think he needs to say? >> the first thing he is needs to acknowledge that the war on terror continues. look at what you discovered from cnn, the private journals of chris stevens. who said, a number of things. this was not about a video. he was being targeted by al qaeda. he said al qaeda was growing in libya. he said there was a rise in islamic extremism in that area. there truly is terrorism that

continues. this is not because of a video. number two, the president, when he says for the people of israel he has their back. he needs to outline exactly what that means. at the time iran gets closer and closer to having a nuclear weapon. and third is the american people need to know what the president's foreign policy actually is. four years ago he said i can negotiate with iran. that has failed. he said he would push the reset button with russia. that has failed. and he said that the entire middle east would look at him and the united states differently with respect us more as a result of him in the white house. and that's failed. >> so, in that list of three things, the white house has now released some of the excerpts from what we know the president will say today. i'll start with the last thing that you say about foreign policy. in fact, this may be better for what he said on "60 minutes" where he laid out, when you said he hasn't said what his foreign policy is. i think the white house would say actually he has. here's a little clip of what he told scott pelley. i'll play that.

>> well, let's see what i've done since i came into office. i said i'd end the war in iraq. i did. i said that we'd go after al qaeda. they've been decimated. that we'd go after bin laden. he's gone. so i've executed on my foreign policy and it's one that the american people largely agree with. so, up know if governor romney is suggesting that we should start another war, he should say so. >> so that's obviously steve croft and not scott pelley. you hear a lot on the democratic side, they tick off those exact same things and say, foreign policywise, and the polls support him, the american people think we're doing okay. >> he said osama bin laden is dead. and al qaeda is on the run. al qaeda is not on the run. what we've seen is al qaeda targeted and assassinated our ambassador in libya. that's -- that's the case. and then he called that a bump in the road. these are four dead american bodies who are in the road. so i think he's absolutely wrong there. when he talks about pulling out of iraq, what we now know is

that his military advisers said leave people in iraq. 15,000. he wasn't able to accomplish that so right now, iran is flying supplies to syria over iraqi air space, which shouldn't be happening. but it's being done to supply the syrians, who are massacring their people. this president has failed on foreign policy. >> so, elise, maybe we can throw up some of these poll numbers. we know on foreign policy, actually, when compared to the job that the american people think the president is doing versus what mitt romney would do, he significantly beats him. romney, even though some of those numbers have fallen over the last, you know, couple weeks or so. but not significantly. and not very far outside the standard deviation. so, what do you think that -- do you agree with the senator that the president hasn't spelled out well enough and must do in these remarks today, foreign policy? >> i think there are certain questions about what the president needs to do in terms of how is he going to address these rising anti-american

protests? i mean, he did come to office in 2009, made that famous cairo speech promising to engage the arab and muslim worlds, and you see three years later, u.s. not much more popular in the arab world than we were after 9/11. so in that sense, i think americans, after this shocking attack on the consulate, and these process, one is seeing how president obama is going to engage in this region going forward. i think there are also questions about iran's nuclear program and how the president is going to address it. i think on the point of al qaeda, and whether al qaeda son the run, it's a little bit more complex than that. because you have al qaeda, the large organization, and then you have some of these splinter groups that are kind of sympathetic with al qaeda. affiliated with al qaeda. these are the ones that are believed to be responsible for the attack. but the issue of islamic extremism certainly very important. and that's why the president argues, secretary of state hillary clinton argues, the u.s.

has to keep getting engaged in this region. because if you look at what happened in the arab spring, and these revolutions that kind of swept the middle east, there was all this euphoria and they were looking for the united states to support these demonstrators. now we see extremists are trying to hijack and this is what you call the second phase. so is it really a time for the u.s. to kind of retreat but to continue to be engaged? and i think that's what you're going to hear president obama talking about. and you are going to hear him talk about how to contain the crisis in syria. but to some extent the u.s. is held hostage to russia and china on the u.n. security council, and the lack of general international will. i mean the united states, yes, is the sole superpower. but i think when president obama came into office he said, you know, other countries have to share the load. and i don't -- in some cases you don't see that. >> so you have said that you don't think that the president has done enough to spell out his support for israel. >> well, he's not -- a couple things. one is the reset button in

russia has failed. we are still being held hostage by that. we need to know that china is rubbling money to iran in spite of all of the sanctions that we have. so i think the president additionally with regard to israel needs to say exactly where the red line is, where the deadline is, and what it really means so people in israel and the united states and iran know when the president says we have your back, what specifically does that mean? >> i think on the issue of iran, i think what u.s. officials tell me is why should we spell out exactly what iran needs to do. want to keep iran kind of guessing a little bit. certainly, you know, it's coming to crunch time and you know, i think it's -- >> they're not slowing down. >> i think it's not so important, necessarily, that the president spells out to the general public and to the iranians what he needs to do. he needs to spell out privately, to prime minister netanyahu, this is where i'm prepared. and this is -- >> it would help if he actually met with prime minister netanyahu. the president last year had 13 meetings with former leaders.

he's meeting with no one this year. >> and the white house has said that we have a phone, you know, we can call foreign leaders if we need to. we certainly know that he's going to be on "the view" this morning which has already been taped. both sides of the aisle have been doing letterman, leno, "view," "kelly." >> 13 meetings with foreign leaders last year. none this year. but time for "the view." i think this misses the mark in terms of where the united states ought to be in foreign policy. >> we'll see how the voters feel about that. senator, thanks for being with us. got to take a short break. still ahead on "starting point," high school hazing to the extreme. three soccer players say their teammates sexually abused them in the form of initiation. parents want to know was there any kind of supervision? a live report straight ahead. and bacon? do you love bacon? >> i love bacon. >> you might want to stock up. there could be a bacon shortage, believe it or not. terrifying news on that front we're back in just a moment. up, i went to the citi private pass page

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welcome back to "starting point," i'm christine romans, minding your business. u.s. stock futures are flat ahead of the opening bell. stocks really stuck here near five-year highs as we assess how well world economies are growing. listen up bacon lovers. do not panic about reports this morning from the uk of a bacon shortage. the uk trade association pork trade association says a bacon shortage is unavoidable. but the u.s. is not running out of bacon. i am pleased to report. in fact, usda data show record amounts of pork in the u.s. but because of the drought this summer retail prices, of course, could go higher next year. >> there is no bacon shortage. >> there is no bacon crisis. i'm happy to report. now, toys "r" us is hiring 45,000 seasonal workers for the upcoming holiday shopping season. 5,000 more than last year. toys "r" us and other discounters are also loosening up their layaway plans. why? they're bracing for another holiday shopping season amidst high unemployment.

i'm not a fan of layaway. i think it's really a sign of financial distress. you have to put money down -- >> clear i it's a sign of financial distress. lots of people do layaway. >> they do. but it's really important to take a look at why you're buying something that you can't pay for in the first place. >> mostly because you don't have a job. but that's another problem. make sure you really need it. really need it, not want it. >> christine, thank you. disturbing case of alleged sexual hazing. a high school soccer team, three players in la puente high school making accusations. two of them say they were beaten with a stick or a javelin. in one case the stick was used. they're saying to sexually abuse win of the students claiming. four of the alleged attackers are all fellow students have been cited and the coach is also under investigation. all this brings us to casey wian who's been following this case. he's in la puente for us. what's the latest on this case? >> well, soledad, the latest is the los angeles county sheriff's department says it has

interviewed 70 students at la puente high school, and as you mentioned, four of them were taken into custody and when the sheriff's department says is they were cited and released pending a further investigation. also, one member of the school's faculty has been put on administrative leave while this investigation is ongoing. now, the sheriff's department says that there is evidence that hazing in the soccer program at la puente high school has been going on for years, and they say it may have risen to the level of criminal conduct. an attorney representing three of the boys who were allegedly victimized by this hazing says it was sort of a rite of passage for boys who made the varsity soccer team. >> they told me if i wanted to do it the easy way or the hard way, and at that moment my heart was like pounding, and like i just like kind of like blacked out, and i said -- i told them,

i just remember telling them i want it the easy way. but they got me back. >> we do not and will not turn a blind eye to reports of harassment or hazing. therefore, we took immediate action to contact law enforcement to initiate an investigation. >> now the attorney for the victims says that there are also allegations that a coach either witnessed or perhaps even somehow indirectly participated in this hazing. we tried to contact the man who was listed as a coach of the la puente boys soccer team. our calls were not returned. i should point out that the los angeles county sheriff's department says at this point there is no evidence that any member of the faculty or the coaching staff here was directly involved in this hazing.

soledad? >> horrific story. casey wian for us this morning. thank you. still ahead on "starting point" we showed you the blown call in last night's seahawks packers game. how is that allowed to happen? why is the lingerie football league saying those refs aren't even good enough to be reffing their games? our get real coming up next. our "starting point" team is coming in. keys, keys, keys, key. ♪ well, he's not very handsome ♪ to look at [ sighs ] ♪ oh, he's shaggy ♪ and he eats like a hog [ male announcer ] the volkswagen jetta. available with advanced keyless technology. control everything from your pocket, purse, or wherever. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ that dirty, old egg-suckin' dog ♪ something this delicious could only come from nature.

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welcome back to "starting point" everyone. we could find out today if the supreme court will take up the controversial issue of same-sex marriage. there are two pending appeals cases in which the court may or may not decide to hear

arguments. the death of a newborn giant panda cub remains a mystery. vets at washington's national zoo ruled out the possibility that the panda cub was crushed by its mother. the baby panda died over the weekend, six days after it was born. a judge has ordered a probation hearing for chris brown after the singer tested positive for marijuana. now brown is currently serving five years' probation for his infamous 2009 assault on then-girlfriend rihanna. get this, though, rihanna tweeted brown right before court on monday saying, i'm praying for you, and wishing you the best today. >> well, there's been lots of people watching that kind of, they're back together. >> all right. >> making some people a little unhappy. >> do you follow? >> no, i don't. do you? >> no. >> my children might. >> because i just -- >> terrifying that they're back together. it's just so sad for rihanna.

>> i'm not going to judge. i'm going to let everybody live. how's that for my new philosophy. cristia freeland is with us. done baer is khormer communications director in the house. margaret hoover. you're all very judgmental. >> i feel like you're trying. >> they are suffocating right now. >> no. it's my new affirmation. nonjudgmental. >> new affirmation? >> yes, i'm trying. get real this morning. remember we were talking about that blown packers call, seahawks/packers game. walk us through exactly what happened. because i don't follow football but it looked to me very clear. >> you're watching it right now. it's the last play of the game. the seahawks are down by five. the quarterback with a hail mary pass into the end zone here. now, it looks like the packers, in yellow, intercepted the ball. however, the refs say that golden tate, who was the one seahawks player in that group

right there, there you see him right there. they say that golden tate, 81, is the one who actually had his hand on the ball. they made the call on the field at the time saying the seahawks caught it, it was a touchdown. then they went and reviewed it. they look at the same video we're looking at for about another 10 minutes and still ruled it was a touchdown. meanwhile everyone else on planet earth is going no, no it's not. >> clearly an interception. >> the lingerie football league is even having some fun with this. this morning they put out a press release saying quote, due to several onfield incompetent officiating we chose to part ways with a couple crews which apparently are now officiating in the nfl. we felt it was only fair that nfl fans knew the truth who was officiating these games. lingerie league commissioner did not say whether one of those crews or anyone from those crews is actually officiating last night's game. >> i'm not going to judge the lingerie league. >> you can judge the call. it was a terrible call. >> it was a terrible call. if the lingerie league is putting out statements, saying

that they even thought that that was terrible -- >> it's also not the first bad call of the season. right? >> no. >> so this is now a pretty persistent problem. >> game after game after game they made calls that were blatantly wrong. not just judgment calls but the wrong calls. >> but does this all push them to resolve the stalemate? >> yes. >> by sunday, by saturday? it has to be -- >> what are they going to have to do? >> pay them move. nfl refs is fascinating. >> they're important. they made their point. >> they're part-time. nfl refs only work part-time. some of these guys are lawyers, they have other jobs. but they're asking for money, they want better retirement plans and the league is saying faux. >> you would say that if pushes for a settlement only if you think it's hurting the owners. the owners what they care about is people watching. so this is a car crash. >> i disagree. i think they also care about whether or not the game is played credibly and judged credibly, if people are kept

safe, and if people, you know, some of these people are tweeting the tweets were hilarious. >> -- the overall credibility of the season this is going to really -- >> fans like i mean you might watch for a couple of days, because it sort of is interesting episode or cultural event. but isn't it important for fans, if you are a fan -- >> it is changing the game. i was skeptical. i thought it wouldn't make much of a difference but it's making a difference every sunday now and hon day. >> every fan. still ahead this morning on "starting point," the fate of nearly 1200 prisoners who are serving time behind bars is now in question. could a botched drug cases set them free? teenage girl is paddled by her male vice principal. the school's response. and who should be able to do that. why not take a day to explore your own backyard?

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welcome back to "starting

point." let's start with john berman for a look at some of the stories making news this morning. >> thanks, soledad. two staff sergeants will be court-martialed over videos described as deplorable and disgusting. u.s. marines urinating on dead taliban fighters last year and posing for pictures with the corpses. three other marines have already been punished in this case. a review finds more than 1100 people in massachusetts are in state prison or county jails because of potentially tainted drug evidence. a former state chemist allegedly told law enforcement officials she mixed drug samples to create positive results. she has not been charged, but a criminal investigation is under way. fast-moving wildfires are posing dangers in the west this morning. the body of an 82-year-old disabled man was discovered in a home in san diego county. the shockey fire has scorched about 2,000 acres so far and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people. another fire in oklahoma has been contained. about 100 firefighters battled the grass fire that threatened about a dozen homes and closed a state highway for much of the

afternoon. in your a.m. house call the discovery of a new virus. but exactly what is it? two men from the middle east became infected with a strain linked to both the common cold and the sars virus. like sars, it causes severe respiratory distress, but it also causes kidney failure which is not a symptom of sars. even more mysterious, scientists have not found a connection between the two men. so there you go. that's frightening this morning. some encouraging news, and some alarming news on prescription drug abuse. a new government survey shows a 14% drop in prescription drug abuse among 18 to 25-year-olds since 2010. the not so good news, about 2.3 million children and adults abuse prescription drugs for the first time last year. and officials at a texas high school are considering an expansion of their corporal punishment rules in order to permit male teachers to spank female students. the talks -- >> what? >> the talks are taking place after -- it already happened to

a 15-year-old girl, taylor santos. the springtown high school sophomore opted for padling to reduce a suspension she received for allegedly copying class work. forem her mom okayed the spanking, but said that was before she realized a male vice principal would be dishing out the punishment which apparently is in violation of school policy. >> it looked almost as if it had been burned and blistered. it was so bad. and it was bright red, like bad. i still have welts on me today. >> so again that school is now having discussions that would allow the male teachers to spank female students. soledad. 19 states in the u.s., including texas, do allow corporal punishment in schools. >> i am not judgmental. however there is so much wrong with that story. first of all why would you choose between getting smacked and being suspended when really

she should stay in school and learn something. that would be a much better punishment to have to say in than do something after school. it's crazy to not have a student not no school anyway. and to have anybody hitting anybody. >> and having a male teacher -- >> 19 states allow corporal punishment. you would think they're going to be reaching children. >> kind of harmful. this girl had to choose between being suspended and being hit. right? like imagine if we had choices like that in our adult lives. still ahead on starting point, she became a household name on laverne and shirley. penny marshall takes us behind the camera with a new memoir. we'll talk with her coming up. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

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a generation of tv fans remember her as laverne defazio from the classic sit come "laverne & shirley." penny marshall writes candidly about her life in front of and behind the camera in her new memoir called "my mother was nuts." the title of your book is "my mother was nuts." was your mother nuts? >> yes, she was. was yours? >> well, she's still alive. and yes, very much so. >> i think everyone's mother is slightly nuts. >> her nuttiness and you have a lot of things she said which sometimes seem really mean and not just nutty, how did that shape you into what you ended up

becoming? >> well you had to form a sense of humor or you'd kill yourself. but, she was saying about somebody else, you could laugh. you had to know what sarcasm was. >> what would you like people to take away from this book? >> well, i came from the bronx. you know, i'm not a articulate person. but, i have a strange combination of insecurity and fearlessness. >> that sounds contradictory. actually. >> well, i'm insecure. i don't know. okay, did you try this all right? you know, if i'm asked, i did not knock on doors to do anything, they asked me to direct. they asked me to do this, you know. >> please! >> many people remember the role in "laverne & shirley" obviously the show was a huge breakthrough. the thing i thought was interesting the dynamic with cindy williams. i remember when it ended and

there was a lot written about what happened, there was infighting, et cetera. you describe it as she was really insecure, in some ways, reasonably, because your brother was directing it. >> no, she was -- we all had new york accents, we all were from new york so we all talk like this. so for the first six episodes she talked laverne. and no one -- a new york accent. so then she talked. and she is a much better actress than me. she has a range. and she had done movies. >> but you do a thing that would get attention, kind of the slapstick, and then she would go, i want more time. >> she wanted all the dialogue. i don't do dialogue. i'll do something, i'll make my milk and pepsi, which i drank as a child. i'll do things. >> she'd be like she wasn't getting laughs? >> well, she could have all the dialogue. but she couldn't, you know, she could color things. she could, you know, speech, a monologue. i didn't like words so much. >> so that what made the whole

thing end eventually? >> no. what made the thing end was she got married. very happy. she was pregnant. she was going to have a baby. bless her. >> you guys still friends? >> yeah. i saw her the other night. she's rehearsing for a play. >> do you like directing more than you like acting? >> i like that you don't have to get in hair and makeup. >> i hear you on that. the list of movies that you directed is long and you know, "big," "league of her own," "preacher's wife." "awakening ", "renaissance man," i'm missing some others. talk to me about "big." >> i read it. it read like an afternoon special. everyone said that's a universal thought. and i asked tom. and tom said no. everyone said no. >> was robert de niro supposed to be in big. >> i said read it, tell me what you think. he said i like it. he was very smart about a lot of things. but once bob wanted to do it, now everyone wanted to do it.

he gave me a validity i didn't have. >> people have read a lot about that, it was the first movie that a woman director made $100 million. >> i didn't make it personally. >> no, no. >> trust me on that one. >> i'm sure that's how it works. was whitney houston nice to work with? >> she was great. she's funny as hell. she was. she was great. always knew her lines. you know. and i said, one day i said i'm going to stage this just for you. thank you. you know. she didn't have that kind of ego. whatever was going on in her personal life, you know, whatever she did, she did it at home. she didn't do it on the set. >> how is your health now? because i know you had a bout with cancer. >> well in 2009 i did have a bout. i dodged a major bullet. is wood around? >> right there. >> that's water. i asked for wood. >> oh, wood? >> see no one understands what i'm talking about. i'm trying to knock on wood. i'm knocking on water. >> penny marshall.

her book is really good. she just did it into a tape recorder and turned it into a book. she's really, you know, she's really blunt. i love when people write their memoirs and they don't hide anything. >> was she fun? >> really fun. really fun, yes. she's a lot of fun. >> i think they should market that tape, right? just the audio tape of her talking. >> oh, yeah, that would be worth it. she'd be great. amazing. ahead this morning on "starting point," college graduates are leaving schools, school with thousands of dollars in debt. what's happened to student loans after the november election? christine romans will join us to talk about the candidates straight ahead. we are all reflections of

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welcome back to "starting

point," everyone. a look at your top stories. rescuers in nepal say there is no hope of finding any more survivors after a mountaintop avalanche. at least eight people are dead. mountain guides called off the search. three climbers, two frenchmen and a canadian are still missing. the the army psychiatrist arrested in the 2009 shooting massacre morning. hasan was admitted saturday for an undisclosed condition. he is in good condition and expected to be released within 48 hours. 13 people died in that shooting. 32 others were wounded. a player for the falcons was arrested last might charged with obstruction. the police say john abraham crossed into a restricted area where they were trying calm a woman attempting to jump from a hotel. now, it is not moan if he knew the woman that did not jump but abraham is the second falcons player arrested in the last week. >> wow. i would like more details on that. sounds like he was trying to help her. >> we don't know.

all this week we have been going in depth on issues that matter to you. high cost of college and how to pay for it. christine romans has that for us we live in a country where you can't afford to go to college for a lot of middle-class families and can't afford not to. when jackie graduated from brown university this year she put off going straight to medical school. instead she took a research job at sloan kettering hospital. >> it was nice to have a paying job where i can pay back part of my student loans before going to med school and possibly adding on a lot more. >> reporter: she had plenty of them. $100,000 worth. why? her familiar familiar sly middle class. they are considered too wealthy to qualify for grants but not wealthy enough to have saved the money for more than 2k4r50rs,000 a year to attend brown. >> you are in the middle of class. normal suburban family. you just don't make an

outrageous amount of money and can't pay the prices for tuition, you know. >> reporter: she is not alone. student loan debt hit a trillion dollar last year. even tuition for public four-year colleges rose 68% over the last decade. and enter the presidential campaign with college affordability a key issue for younger voters. >> i want to make college more affordable important every young person who has the initiative and drive to go and make sure they are not burdened by thousands of dollars worth of debt. >> reporter: president obama expanded pell grants and cut out the banks as middlemen for loans. allowing students to borrow directly from the government. now obama proposes to slow tuition growth bin creasing state grants. yet, he would need congress to help fund that. >> i'm not going to go out and promise all sorts of free stuff that i know you are going to end up paying for. what i want to end up doing is give you a great job so you can pay it back yourself. >> reporter: mitt romney's plan, remove burdensome regular ligss

and get the government out of the student loan business. romney says the flood of federal dollars just drives up tuition. molly broad of the american council on education says that the recession's heavy toll on state budgets is also a factor. >> when the state reduces its support, the only other place to turn for most colleges in the public sector is to increase tuition. >> reporter: either way students like jackie feel left out in the cold. >> a lot of people that don't have students in college or don't have kids my age think like, oh, you are wealthy enough to go to college or you get financial aid from the government. it is that simple but it is not that simple. >> no, it is not. a study by fidelity investments shows families are way, way behind their college savings. fewer an third of parents with collegebounds children are considering the total cost of college. only 30% of all families are on track to cover it. >> not surprised. down economy the first thing that goes.

savings, you immediate money, you can break into your 401(k). >> you have to pay yourself first. you have to fund your own retirement first and if something has to go you can't borrow for your retirement, you can borrow for your kids' college. that's the conundrum so many famili are in. >> housing crisis, you know, all this about the economy, if more debt at cheaper rates was the precondition for the mortgage crisis how is the student debt going to be solved by the same theory? >> bill bennett says -- many conservatives believe him, if you keep plowing federally subsidized student loans a much students to use in any degree they want you are just adding to a bubble of student tuition. >> federal government knows that money going to come into loans. so -- universities then raise their tuition and in anticipation -- >> the problem is the alternative. what do you do -- i thought that young woman christine was very, very ssympathetic. what do you say to a kid like that? it is not your fault when you

are 18, whether your parents saved or not, whether your parents are poor enough to qualify for loans. and if if you are smart enough to get into brown university, shouldn't you be able to responsibly take on the debt to get that education? it will totally alter -- should her education be free? is that the alternative? >> should we stop the housing -- bubble -- >> what is your alternative for that young woman? >> real policy examination of what is going on. it seems to me you are right. this woman -- s.o.l. when she gets out of college. she has to work and has a huge amount of debt. >> she is not exactly s.o.l. right? everything we know is the best investment we can make as a country is in the human capital and people just like this young woman, she will work her way through this. and she is -- i bet you will go to medical school and be a hugely productive part of this society and you can multiply her by millions of people and that's the future of our country. >> she's -- >> she becomes a doctor because -- the new student loan

reforms in the health care law. becomes a doctor, down the road. works in a place where we need doctors and government decides we need doctors in a low-income neighborhood or someplace that needs service for doctors. taxpayer will write off some of other loans down the road. we will pay some of that. there is a payback for all of the investment that the taxpayers have. >> the options not going. there's no choice where she doesn't go at all. that puts her in a worse position. >> we have the unemployment rate among those that don't go to college, finish two years of college, is dramatically worse. >> it is a squeeze. >> still ahead this morning on "starting point," president obama addressing world leaders today. not planning to sit down with any of them. making an appearance on "the view." could this hurt his campaign? we will talk about that. breakout star of the new york giants. victor cruz dances his way into the studio. [ giggling ] [ laughing ]

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. our "starting point," president obama speaks before the world leaders today. he's not going to be meeting with foreign dig any scaries one-on-one. he will be sitting on the couch at "the view." the bad call heard around the football world. the fans, players, and coaches outraged. is it time for the replacement refs to pack it in and get the

professionals back on the field? new york giants star wide receiver victor cruz will join us live. he is a mama's boy. got a new campbell's commercial. you have to be a mama's boy to be one of those. tuesday, september 25. and "starting point" begins right now. cue the salsa music any time we think about mentioning victor cruz. welcome. our team this morning, christian friedman, don bears, margaret hoover, former white house appointee in the bush administration. john sticking around and helping us out with news this morning. let's talk about international diplomacy and election year politics. colliding today. the president is going to be speaking to the u.n. general samably assembly in two hours. the president talks about the

u.s. consulate attack in libya in which chris steve sense and three other americans were killed. today we must affirm our future will be determined by people like chris stevens and not by his killers. today we must declare violence and intolerance has no place among our united nations. let's get right to richard roth at the u.n. this morning. good morning, richard. >> good morning, soledad. here at the united nations the general assembly gathering. september, fall, in new york. president obama on the world stage. you may have talked to the ladies of "the view" yesterday. will get a view of 192 other member countries. the flags are up outside the united nations headquarters and world delegates are beginning to arrive here on the ground. as you mentioned, president obama is going to address the turmoil in the middle east and killings of u.s. ambassador stevens and the demonstrations that have occurred in u.s. embassies and missions. he is going to say in effect a video should not have provoked all of this. the attacks of the last two

weeks he is expected to say are, quote, not simply an assault on america. they are an assault on the very ideals upon which the u.n. was founded. of course, for the united states, iran remains a major issue. president obama says he expects to say that time is not unlimited regarding iran and its nuclear program. america wants to resolve this issue lou diplomacy and we believe there is, quote, still time and space to do so. he also says make no mistake. one of the purposes of the united nations is to see we harness the power for peace. nuclear armed iran is not a challenge that can be contained. president ahmadinejad of iran was in the u.n. building yesterday and in interviews and again strongly criticized isr l israel, including the united states. soledad, back to you. >> thank you very much for the update and preview. we appreciate it. ahead of the president's speech the romney campaign is amping up their attacks on the president's foreign policy 37 ryan drawing a parallel to the

iran hossage crisis in 1979. >> he made the case the power of his personality and purchase situation powers would calm things in the muslim world. would make people respect us and like us that much more. i mean, they are on tv and -- reminds you of 1979 tehran but they are burning our flags and capitals all around the world. they are storming our embassies. we lost four of our diplomats. >> wolf blitzer who covered 1979 tehran would say not quite so much. at least certainly not at this stage yet. he spent a lot of time there and he says that's overstating it. also criticism today about why the president is not meeting with any world leaders face to face. he will make a stop at "the view." robin wexler, former democratic congressman. he is an obama supporter. thank you for talking with us. why is he not doing any of these one-on-one meetings when you

look back historically, president bush met with a list of leaders. even just last year, president obama himself was meeting with 11 leaders. why not meetings one-on-one? seems critical now? >> it is critical. the president constantly th llls with leaders across the world. in the last few weeks he talked at great length with the president of egypt, prime minister of israel, leaders in afghanistan, libya. he talked with prime minister of turkey who issued a strong statement for the condemnation of the violence. a number of muslim leaders across the world have issued statements like that at the behest of president obama. so this is a president that has actually a stellar record on foreign policy. and is constantly engaged with his peers across the world in europe and asia and so forth. >> congressman, hold on one

second. i . >> he meets with people all the time constantly. no need to do it now and the u.n. general aseem sbli meeting. do you think that's a fair assess many? >> i think it is an error in judgment president obama made. i mean, it is true that he does talk to and meet with leaders around the world. but this is one of the most critical weeks everyone talks about meeting with world leaders. have you so much going on in the region. you have, obviously, talking about iran. and fears that israel is going to launch a nuclear strike on iran. it is not that the secretary clinton who is handling these meetings isn't capable of doing it, but at this time you want to see leadership from the president and it looks as if the president is saying i checked this box. i'm sewn up the foreign policy aspect and want to connect with the american viewers in a different way. >> go back to the congressman. he dash there was a quote from president obama from the interview he did on "60 minutes." he's talking about national security. specifically about israel.

listen. >> let's see what i have done since i came into office. i said i would tend war in iraq. i did. pit said that we would go after al qaeda. they had been decimated in the fatah, go after bin laden. he's gone. so i have execute order my foreign policy and it is one that the american people largely agree with. you know, if governor romney is suggesting we should start another war, he should say so. when it comes to our national security decisions, any pressure that i feel is simply to do what's right for the american people. i am going to block out any noise that's out there. >> was he calling binyamin netanyahu noise and having copping dialogue on this? >> not at all. the president's record with respect to strong support for israel would be one of his finest accomplishments in

office, security and military and intelligence cooperation between the united states and israel under president obama's leadership is actually historic. talk to the people in the southern israeli and how they are now protected by the iron dome, anti-missile system which president obama has been instrumental in helping to pay for, israel's military qualitative edge continues to be extremely strong. we have had the largest joint military exercises between the united states and israel under president obama's leadership and there is more to come. whether it is financial assistance, whether -- the u.n. last year, president obama is essentially stopped the unilater unilateral palestinian effort. president obama made the strongest pro-israel statement -- >> all this would lead one to

believe you have been hearing only rave reviews from binyamin netanyahu which is completely not at the time indicate. >> well, actually prime minister netanyahu has called the cooperation between the united states and israel historic. president shimon peres has raved about the relationship between president obama and the state of israel. israel's most decorated soldier, its defense minister has done that. president obama -- >> if you were to take a look at comments over the past, let's say three months, that would not be the tone, certainly, for binyamin netanyahu. >> i think that this is the whole thing about maybe why president obama isn't meeting with any world leaders because he does want to meet with president netanyahu. he has heard real tough criticism from prime minister netanyahu about not setting so-called red lines from iran. what it would take to get the u.s. involved in military action. and he wasn't inclined to give the prime minister a hearing after hearing that.

he said p i'm not going meet with anybody, i'm not going to meet with binyamin netanyahu. >> when you look at the approval numbers on how the president is handling foreign policy, 49% now say the president is doing a good job. 49% say doing a good job. 54% in august. it is roughly within the standard of deviation but still a downward trend. how worried are you about the number. >> i'm not worried because of the president's record on foreign policy, on -- in total, is quite strong. the president himself said it. he took out osama bin laden. qaddafi is gone in libya. two-thirds of al qaeda's leadership has been eliminated. he responsible blip ended the war in iraq. >> numbers -- none of that changed since we have seen the numbers change and dropped five points. >> that's true. the american people are concerned, they are concerned about a changing world. they want steady leadership. they want leadership that is strong which -- president

obama's provided. but it would -- also sober and measured. but, of course, the american people are concerned when they see violence and learn that our ambassador has been killed. when they see the american flag being burned. americans rightly get anxious. that is why president obama, it is so important for him at the u.n. today to make a very strong statement which he will about american leadership in the world, about taking the initialtive, about condemning uncertain terms the violence against the united states and diplomatic forces and also condemning the substance and content of this video that has at least contributed to this situation. >> congressman robert wexler, it is nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking with us. other stories making news. john has that for us. >> thanks, soledad. with tensions on the rise between israel and iran, iran's president now claims when he said israel should be wiped off the map, he didn't mean it literally. exclusive interview last night on cnn's piers morgan, listen to

ahmadinejad attempt to clarify what he meant. >> when we say to be wiped we say for occupation to be wiped off this world. the killing of women and children to be eradicated and we proceedsed ee ee eed -- propos. the right to self-governance for palestinians. >> ahmadinejad speaks about of the u.n. general assembly tomorrow on the jewish high holy day of yom kippur. >> hazing on a soccer team, three players and the team in southern california are making these accusations. two of them say they were beaten with a stick or javelin and at least in one case the stick was allegedly used to sexually abuse one of them. more alleged attackers, fellow students, were cited and released. arrest in the case of a missing university of florida

freshman whose whereabouts are still a missing. christian aguilar disappeared thursday after what police said was a fight over a woman. pedro bravo is called the person of interest but he's already been taken into custody and charged with depriving a victim of medical care. he said he left aguilar beaten and unconscious along the roadside. police say aguilar may be dead. as we mentioned after president obama's u.n. speech you will see him and the first lady stopping by "the view." here is a preview. >> would it be disastrous for the country if mitt romney were elected? >> well, you know, i think america is so strong and we have so much going for us that we can survive a lot. and -- but the american people don't want to just survive. we want everybody to thrive. we want folks to have a shot at success. so the question becomes whose policies are more likely to lead us to where we want to go.

>> now, when asked whether she would ever consider running for president both she and the president, michelle obama and the president, agreed that michelle doesn't have the patience for the job. the president agreed that was a little interesting to say the least. gop challenger mitt romney will deliver a speech of the clinton global initiative meeting in an hour. expected to hit the president hard on foreign policy. >> he said that the developments of the middle east are bumps in the road. these are not bumps in the road. these are human lives. this is time for the president who will shape events in the middle east not just be merciful. >> white house spokesman jay carney calls romney's comments desperate and offensive. the president will also speak at the clinton global initiative later today after mitt romney does. >> here is a list of where the candidates have been. this is from dana millbank.

the president has found places in for leno, jimmy fallon, for "people," "entertainment tonight and "the view." mitt romney has had an opportunity to sit down on the set of "live with kelly and michael." and "the tonight show with jay leno" and also -- i think -- he talked about the people worried about going on "the view" because they were sharp-tongued women so he may be or may not appear there. less talk about substance, i think, and much more sort of -- >> sitting down with people on "the view." >> dana millbank is one of the greatest commentators on politics and they are going on this and you would think they won want to connect with viewers to get the policies across. they are talking about boxers or briefs. snooki. >> chocolate milk. >> michelle obama, are you ready to tuck barack obama in? i mean, as an american, i mean,

are these the kind of things that we want to be hearing or do we want, you know, them to be connecting in a different way? i think that it is just really interesting that what they are saying if miss jersey shore culture, if you will, these are the things that are going to get them a bump in the polls. >> you covered the state department. truly, like -- we will have a conversation about this later this morning when it is our tough call because i think that raises a good point. what do americans want to hear on the campaign trail? >> if you -- yes, president obama is campaigning for re-election but also still the president of the united states. and he still has a job to do. so clearly he is saying that re-election right now is taking priority over some of the work that needs to be done. >> clearly, clearly. we have to take a short break. we will continue this conversation. ahead this morning, outcry over those replacement nfl refs could be at the breaking point. players, coaches and fans are

outraged.

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you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule. welcome back to "starting point." u.s. stock futures are flat ahead of the opening bell. stocks are stuck mere five-year highs as the world assesses how well economies are growing here. toys "r" toys "r" us are hiring workers for the holiday season. they are loosening up their layaway plans bracing for another holiday shopping season amid very high unemployment. listen up, bacon lovers. do not panic about reports this morning from the u.k. of a bacon shortage. the u.s. is not running out of bacon. usda data shows record amounts

of pork in the u.s. because of a drought this summer, retail prices could go higher next year. you will pay up for your bacon. don't lose any sleep about this report. >> thank you. >> big story this morning. it really was a big story this morning. >> i had bacon in london on sunday. there was plenty of it. >> perfect. >> maybe you guys ate it all. hence our story this morning. i'm connecting the dots. still ahead on "starting point," new reasons replacement refs may need to go away. giants star victor vuz will weigh in on this controversy this morning. to ve a backup pla, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race.

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welcome back. you are watching "starting point." fans and players feared it would happen and now it has, a blown call by the nfl's replacement refs, changing the outcome after game. this is the nfl will have to explain this morning. none night football. final play of the game. five-point lead. seahawks quarterback tries a desperation hail mary pass seems to be intercepted in the end zone. replacement ref calls eight game-winning touchdown. decision is upheld even though they spent ten minutes reviewing the video. final score, 14-12. let's go to the experts. let's go to our own experts. victor cruz is joining thus morning. you just saw that. i know you were watching it last night as well. >> i was. that's tough, man. it is tough as an athlete just to watch it. it is tough, you know, if i have to play in that game i would be pretty upset to be on the losing end of it. but it is something, you know, something we have to deal with now with these replacement refs.

you know, just praying they get the calls right and unfortunately this was not one of those times last night. >> seems like a little distraction from playing football, to be also praying for the refs to get the call right. >> yeah. it is tough. especially as an athlete, going out there and playing and you have enough things to worry about when you are trying to catch the football and make plays as my position does. to go out and have another thing to worry about, you know, in the midst of doing all these other things, is definitely tough. >> has it changed the way you play? do you have a strategy that says the refs is different so my game will be different? >> not really. i try to go out and just not really pay attention to that because then i will be -- it will take me out of my game. i just try on go out and to play my game and continue do what i'm doing and hopefully the refs will play up to my speed. >> we just saw a full weekend of really, you know, bad calls here. >> what's going on in the locker room? what are you saying in the locker room? >> funny thing is we are watching because -- we get espm and town hall in the locker room. we are huddled watching and

like -- looking at each other like, man, let's hope we keep winning by two-plus touchdowns. >> wide margin of victory. in the patriots game, you are sitting next to a rabid patriots fans -- sorry to out you. so have you -- what kinds of calls have you seen? have you seen where -- it was a bad call by some of these refs in games you played in? >> not necessarily bad calls. i have seen a lot of missed calls. like when you go back and watch the film, there's a lot of blatant calls that are out there that are just being missed. that comes to the refs not being trained to see certain things because they haven't had, you know, lot of them haven't been in the nfl and their eyes aren't in training to see different calls. >> do you have a newfound respect for the regular refs now? >> most definitely. to see some of these calls is tough. i tried to ref little league games in may town, that doesn't work out very well.

>> how much longer do you think it goes? >> after last night, i can't see another -- no more than two more weeks of this. i can't see it. i think they have to come to a decision quick. >> i the lingerie league says they are not taking the replacement refs either. they are done. victor cruz will stick ruined. lots more to talk about. "dancing with the stars." he turned it down and will ask him why. a new commercial. people say you are a mama's boy. campbell's soup will prove that. we will be talking about hundreds of thousands of students who drop out of school every year. new series takes a look at the crisis happening in a school that was called a dropout factory. s the secretary of cool. madeleine albright can also drum. talk about what she was doing in that photo straight ahead. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color.

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welcome back. you are watching "starting point." we begin with john. >> the president will address the consul attack that killed christopher stevens and three others as well as violence targeting the american embassies around the world. we got a preview of the speech. here is a look at a quote. to date we must affirm our future will be determined by people like chris stevens and not by his killers. today we must declare that this violence and intolerance has no place among our united nations. two staff sergeants will be court-martialed over this video described as deplorable and does gust. u.s. marines urinating on dead taliban fighters last year and posing for pictures with the corpses. staff sarge wrents charged with the incident and failing to supervise junior troops. three other means have already

been punished. the they are not liable for billions of dollars for hurricane katrina flood damage, specifically in the ninth ward, st. bernard parish. that's what a frals appeals court decided. reversing a decision made in march. the court similar you don't know from damages. it cited a provision that protect it is federal agencies from lawsuits but makes a discretionary call. stop what you are doing and check out this amazing video of a water spout. this was captured saturday along a beach on lake michigan. it was one of several recorded in the area at the time. impressive to witnesses, the national weather service warns that it is never a good idea to try to get closer for a bitter view. do not try this at home. call this drum diplomacy. former secretary of state madeleine albright wowed the crowd at a competition at the kennedy center in washington late sunday night after receiving an award for a

longtime supporter of the jazz foundation. albright sat down and pounded away at the drum set. she also -- >> can we hear that? >> i'm dying to hear it. she goes on a long jam apparently. >> we heard -- >> she did "wipe out. >> we heard a lot about her skills. not so much about the drumming. >> threat in the background. >> renaissance woman. she can cover a lot of ground. >> clearly. let's talk about teenagers in this country. maybe less prepared than ever to continue their education, reading scores on s.a.t. tests for the class of 2012 reached a decade of four decade low. experts are blaming decline on the -- record number of students taking the college entrance exam. many of them can't afford programs to help improve their scores. more than 3 million students each year drop out of high school when they attended commonly called cropout factories. 1,500 dropout factories

nationwide. definition is where fewer than 60% of the students will graduate. in a new documentary on pbs, they spent time at one of those schools. sharpstown high school in houston, texas. followed four students to the verge of dropping out, including this young man whose name is lawrence. >> you don't even appreciate what i do for you. >> i think everybody -- >> i have never done you that way. i never turned my back on you. okay. so that's why you do it? okay. so do you want to withdraw? because you obviously don't want to be here. >> i don't want to be here. >> because you are disrespectful and rude. and we cannot -- >> i don't want to take this test. you keep force it like i have to take this test. >> i said you don't have to take the test. i just don't think he can do school. he is disrespectful and rude to everybody. after everything i have done for him and support i have given him, it pisses me off. >> the principal is joining us this morning and is in houston. in new york is the producer of

that frontline piece, prank. nice to have you with us. we certainly appreciate it. frank, i'm going to start with you before i get to the principal of sharpstown high school. he was talking about a test. the teacher was going back and forth about whether or not he would have to take the test. give us context for that. >> basically the s.a.t.s. they were offering them at school that day. lawrence showed up that morning completely unaware the s.a.t.s were that day. so there's a long scene with the principal and the teacher there trying to talk him into just taking the test. even whether he passes or fails, it doesn't matter. just get out will and take it. lawrence is a student that just has a lot of pemt-up anger and -- emotional issues. that really get in the way of him doing school properly. >> which is pretty much the case for many of the students, frankly, at these dropout factories. let me ask a question to the principal. your teacher in the video clip we showed very, very frustrated. how often is that sort of

interchange -- we just saw with lawrence and the teacher happening at these kinds of schools? is that just sort of a daily occurrence? >> i don't think it is a daily occurrence. it happens but there is a lot more situations that are very positive where we turn it around. you saw lawrence in that clip who was very frustrated and brings a lot of anger to school. there are a lot of students who we sort of redirect that anger and get them on the right track. >> so we just heard that he says listen, that's not always the case. that there are lots of students, they are able to turn behind and get them on the right track. do you think that's true? have you seen that in the making of this documentary? absolutely. that's absolutely the case. and -- i worry we almost stack the deck dpens sharpstown by following especially problematic kids for the course of the documentary. yes, they have as many successes if not more. >> what are some of the problems they are dealing with? >> everything. really every problem you can think of. it seems like 75% of the problems these kids are dealing with are all outside of the school. they are all home life related,

work-life related. gangs, drugs. >> family i shall news exactly not classroom problems. they bring these problems to school and become classroom problems. >> you are at apollo school, right? and -- >> we are. >> many years ago i did a story on roland pryor who put a lot of effort into trying to bring education reform. how have you found his policies playing out since you are anna -- how is it working out for you? what have you seen? >> well, we have seen in the last two years suns we have been at sharpstown, amazing turnaround, and think the two-hour documentary that frontline did will show that. despite the fact that kids come to us with anger, poverty, lots of tough life situations, they can be successful. we have proven that. and through helping them feel capable, connected and cared for, and having that adult mentor at the school. we can no longer just sit and

hope -- kids conform to what we want them to be. we have to be flexible enough to make sure that we are meeting their needs. those needs are just out will really tough. and we do everything we can on a daily basis to figure out ways to meet them. by providing longer hours and providing programs that help get them back on track. longer school days, s.a.t. prep classes. twilight academies where students can work. because of the bread winner in the family and 5:00. >> you have been able to turn rirnd school, your particular school is not a dropout factory anymore or on the path to one? >> we are not where we want to be but absolutely have done that. we changed the culture. not only are we not a dropout factory, our kids are completing school. and at a rate of about 88%. and we also are looking at college. last year our senior graduating

class almost 100% of them applied to a two or four-year college. did all of them go? absolutely not. our goal is to be the purveyors of hope. kids drop out because they lose hope and that there is nothing out there for them. we want them looking past -- >> i was going to ask frank the question what you just said. you just said our goal is to be the purveyors of hope to these students. take us back to lawrence. i mean, can you tell us? i don't want to give away the ending of your documentary but he's such a typical teenage boy and obviously frayed of taking a test. he's completely unprepared for. he wants to stay in school. can you tell? he is pushing back against dropping out. yet, he's not respectful and kind of doesn't want to be there. what happens to him? >> totally. the thing about lawrence is he's a kid that does want to make it. but he has so much that's lined up against him. including himself. he is his own biggest obstacle. there's one scene where lawrence has another tantrum in school and goes storming out of the school and i'm sitting there thinking we just saw lawrence drop out. you know. this -- he is not coming back.

and the principal says he will be back tomorrow. this is the best thing he has. >> for many students it is a sad thing do, that's their lifeline. the documentary looks amazing. ron gasparello, the principal. nice to sigh, sir. frank, can you for bringing a bit of your documentary to us. we appreciate it. "dropout nation" will appear this evening at 9:00 on pbs. victor cruz is standing by and will be talking to us, breakout star for the new york giants. he has a new commercial which is called mama's boy. we will ask him about that, straight ahead. i love cash back. with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. no annual fee. that's 1% back on... wow! 2% on my homemade lasagna.

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every time we think of you we play a little salsa. welcome back to "starting point." victor cruz is back with us. not only is he a super bowl champion -- hold on a second. john the giants won the super bowl. >> yeah, i was there. i saw it. >> your patriots did not. >> yeah, thank you. thank you for that. >> i wanted to highlight that. he holds the team record for most receiving yards in a season. a new ad campaign for campbell's says he is a mama's boy. >> victor, victor i have your campbell's chunky soup. >> mom? >> who is mom? i'm the mascot. >> we don't have a mascot. >> oh, stop. >> thanks, mom. >> see yeah. >> mom. >> i'm okay. >> grand ma? >> hey. >> that's a very, very cute ad. >> tell me what made you want to do that? >> i was just -- you know, just dash an ad i followed all my

life, you know. my career, donovan mcnabb to michael strahan. watched them do this thing with, you know, some with their moms, some without. it is a tremendous ad to be a part of. campbell's soup is a tremendous campaign to be a part of. i'm just -- humble to be one of the athletes that they chose to be a part of. >> it your mom and grandma looked like they are hysterical. are they? >> that wasn't my mom and grandmom in the actual -- what? >> commercial. >> i'm so disappointed. >> my mom didn't want to put the mascot -- i'm not putting that on. >> my hair, my hair. >> you know. >> your mom wants to look great when she is on tv. >> exactly 37 she wants her hair to be flowing. i will pass. >> yeah. >> look good. >> tell me about the whole salsa thing? first touchdown in the super bowl. there you are.

amazing. yes. my giants won the super bowl. tell me how that whole salsa dance started. >> well, it started on our week three against the philadelphia eagles when i was getting knew first start in the nfl. and my coach, coach sullivan, man, you have to doing something to represent your culture, heritage. when you get in the end zone. i was like coach, i don't know, what do you want me to do? i can't just go in will and make some rice and beans. >> do it, do it. >> no, you have to dance. dance a little salsa. i was like -- coach, i just want to catch the football. score a touchdown and dancing in the end zone. got my first catch, going up the sideline. about three yards away from the end zone. i look up and man, i have to do this dance. i break out the dance. you know, like my grandmother taught me how to dance. she was very influential in that. her phone instantly blew up after the game. she became a celebrity. it was like -- it was a feel-good time. >> it became your thing.

how come turned down "dancing with the stars"? i would have thought -- i'm sure they thought the same thing. he can dance. bring him on. >> i just felt like it is something that, you know, can come later on. i want to focus on my career and focus on football. focus on my craft that i was doing at the time. you know, hope reply down the line, a couple of years down the line, when -- you know, i'm -- towards the tail end of my career, something like that, i will do it. >> you came out of nowhere. three games of the season last year. came out of nowhere. do you think that makes you appreciate it more? >> most definitely. every day i wake up -- to this day i wake up and i'm thankful, excited to go to work, thankful i have a job. because, you know, a year ago, if it wasn't for the week three game who knows where i would be. i wake up thankful every day and brushing my teeth and excited to play football. >> we love to hear that. >> great to have you. victor cruz with us this morning. we have to take a short break and back in just a moment.

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150 miles per hour. being pushed to 165 miles per hour. along the northeast corridor between maryland and massachusetts. i'm sure everyone here is wondering. >> i'm looking forward to it. how long is the trip between washington and new york take? >> three hours or less? >> under three hours. >> there's only so much of the rail states they can go with those accelerated speeds because the rails are so old. >> every bit they can. >> maybe you can get up to 2 1/2 hours. >> done. i will take it. motorcycles are dangerous enough. when you add dirt, muddy dirt track and 40 other riders going at top speeds, stakes can be very high. imagine being on that track and then not being able to hear anything at all around you. dr. sanjay gupta has more. >> reporter: motto cross racing is in her blood. >> my dad brought me to race. i fell in love. >> reporter: there is something different about ashley.

she can't hear a thing. ashley was born completely deaf. she speaks to us through a sign ra language translator. >> i don't know how it would be riding here. i grew up and was born deaf. >> reporter: in a sport that prides itself on making noise. difference between winning and losing, ashley stands alone. >> she has to hold my lines when i'm riding because -- it is really hard to see if someone is coming up behind me. >> reporter: she uses the vibrations of the engine to make sure she is in the right gear. at this race, ashley is the only deaf rider ever to compete in mottocross, trying for her fourth championship title. >> i feel really good. hit every drop. big double. i hope i can win and hope being a champion. >> reporter: she achieved just that. beating out her closest rival for the national championship.

for ashley it is more than about win. >> it is really cool to be a role model to the deaf communities and and it is a cool feeling to have people look up to you. >> reporter: fortunately, her friend's impact, is obvious as well. >> she is very important in women's mottocross. idol for these young girls, whether she is deaf or not, you know, she is -- like -- she is smaller than i am. she can ride a dirt bike like that. it is crazy. >> reporter: proof that anything is possible. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios

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it is time for end point. who wants to start? >> i'll go. they are going on regis, is there this worth their while? look, i get that they have to do the finality circus and show up. i want the president of the united states to also be doing the real stuff on the side at the same time. bilateral meetings at the u.n. and is he doing other things? especially on the world stage now. i think that's the question i have. >> both candidates. talked to cnn before the rnc and dnc. done long "60 minutes" debate. there has been a lot of time on the calendar to do late night shows. maybe the strategy is that's where the voters are. >> i'm the world's most boring person. >> no, no. >> i am, actually. but i actually think that we have to give these guy as break. no one can